George Davy Kelley (1848 – 18 December 1911) was a British

trades union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

ist and Labour politician. Kelley was born in Ruskington,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

in 1848. He became apprenticed to the

lithographic printing Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone ( lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

trade in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. Following his apprenticeship, he worked as a printer in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and Bradford. He moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to become general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Printers, formed in 1880.''Obituary – Mr G. D. Kelley'', The Times, 19 December 1911, p.9 Kelley was an early proponent of the Labour movement putting forward candidates for election. He became vice-president of the

Labour Electoral Association {{Short description, Political motive of the Labour Electoral Association The Labour Electoral Association was a political organisation in the United Kingdom which aimed to get working men elected to Parliament. Foundation The issue of political re ...

in 1889, and presided at the Labour Electoral Congress held in Hanley in 1890. He was elected to the parliamentary committee of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

in 1892. He held the office of secretary of a number of bodies: the Manchester Trades and Labour Council, the Lancashire and Cheshire Federation of Trade Councils, the Manchester and District Board of Conciliation and the National Printing and Kindred Trades Federation. In 1902 he travelled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as part of Alfred Moseley's Commission of Inquiry into the organisation of Labour. Two years later as vice-chairman of the National Committee of Organised Labour, he campaigned for the introduction of a universal

old age pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

."Election Intelligence", ''The Times'', 5 November 1904 At the 1906 general election he was selected as one of the Labour Representation Committee candidates, and was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Manchester South West, unseating the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP. Due to ill-health he retired from parliament at the next general election in January 1910. He died in Manchester in December 1911, aged 63.

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* 1848 births 1911 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1906–1910 People from Ruskington Trade unionists from Manchester Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub